Spin the Bottle
by cheesybagels
Summary: Zutara month day 10. Quick lil one-shot I wrote. Kinda rusty with writing so bear with me... Let me know what you think! College party AU (I know, I'm cliche)


"Katara! Come play spin the bottle!" Suki grabbed her friend's wrist and began shoving her way through the throng of college students grinding on the dance floor.

"What is this, middle school?" Katara protested weakly as Suki led her to a more secluded area, where a group of their friends and strangers were gathered around a circular table. Shot glasses of various sizes with unknown drinks mixed in them lined the edge of the table in a dazzling display, with a single empty beer bottle in the middle. Katara groaned inwardly as she realized that this version of spin the bottle was a drinking game, and she knew she was already well past tipsy from the shots she drank earlier. More alcohol probably wasn't the best idea...

Suki wedged the two of them between an attractive boy with black eyes and a cheerful girl with brown eyes. She pointed at each one respectively, introducing them to Katara. "This is Jet!" Suki half-yelled in Katara's ear. Jet flicked his eyes up to acknowledge Katara briefly, before his attention was once again commanded by the joint he was smoking. "And this is Ty Lee!"

Ty Lee beamed at them. "Aren't you excited? I love this game!"

The gorgeous, haughty girl on the other side of Ty Lee rolled her eyes, which, Katara noted with fascination, were gold. "You like spin the bottle because you're such a flirt. It gives you a shameless excuse to kiss random guys. You're so easy, Ty Lee."

Katara winced at the cutting tone and harsh words of the other girl, but Ty Lee just laughed it off. "Azula, I think you'll like this version! It's more fun than the boring kissing game. Right, Mai?"

A gloomy girl on Azula's other side, across the table from Katara, looked up and sighed. "Yeah, whatever. Remind me why I agreed to this?"

Azula smirked at her. "Because, if my brother gets drunk enough, he'll actually want to kiss you."

Mai didn't respond, but a small smile played at her lips. Katara wondered at the identity of Azula's brother – speaking of brothers, where was hers? She knew he was at this party, but she hadn't seen him all night.

Katara noticed a commotion on the other side of the room as a trio of people pushed through the dancing crowd and made their way toward the spin the bottle group. It was a two guys and a girl, though the guy in the middle seemed like he was almost being carried by the other two. He was probably too drunk to walk straight by himself. Upon closer inspection, Katara wasn't entirely surprised to find that the guy who was drunk off his ass was none other than her brother.

Shortly after, Katara recognized the girl as well. With her short stature, pale green eyes, and cropped black hair, Toph Beifong was easily distinguishable from the other college students. She nodded at Katara in greeting, huffing with the effort required to hold Sokka upright. "Hey Katara! What has Sokka been eating, rocks? He weighs a ton."

"Why, is your head missing some?" Katara shot back with a grin. Toph slipped out from under Sokka's arm and took a spot at the table in between her and Jet, leaving the unidentified male to support all of Sokka's weight. Katara's gaze was immediately drawn to his eyes. They were a luminous gold color, reflected by the pulsing lights of the party. His eyes were asymmetrical – the left was marred by a scar, but Katara thought that without the scar he would've looked a little too perfect. In fact, he bore a striking resemblance to–

Azula scoffed. "Really, Zuko? You're stuck babysitting Sokka again? He's such a lightweight, I don't even know why you bother bringing him to parties."

Katara narrowed her eyes. She was starting to dislike this Azula girl a lot.

Sokka grinned, flinging out the arm that wasn't wrapped around Zuko's shoulders and nearly hitting Ty Lee in the face. "Not a lightweight! Drank lots of cactus juice."

Zuko sighed. "It's called vodka, Sokka."

"Vodka, Sokka! That rhymes!" Sokka's unfocused eyes roamed around the circle, brightening when they saw Katara and Suki. "Katara! Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya!"

She sighed. "Just find a spot, Sokka." Zuko pushed Sokka toward Suki, who he immediately threw his arms around and refused to let go of. Zuko squeezed himself into the circle on Suki's other side, next to Katara. She could feel his body heat through the thin crop top she'd chosen to wear to the party.

Ty Lee clapped her hands. "Yay! We're all here now! Let's get started." She grabbed the bottle and gave it a quick spin.

Suki tapped Katara's shoulder. "I'm gonna sit this game out. Sokka really doesn't need any more, uh… cactus juice."

Katara wiggled her eyebrows at Suki. "Okay. It's for my brother's benefit that you're sitting out, not your own. I get it." Suki glared at her. Katara laughed. "Just go, I trust you."

Zuko looked at Katara as Suki dragged Sokka away. "Wait – you're Sokka's sister?"

"Of course she is, Zuko. How dumb are you? They look like twins. Honestly, sometimes I don't understand how we're related." Azula sneered at Zuko in disgust.

Realization struck Katara like a bolt of lightning, and she immediately felt like an idiot as well. Of course Zuko and Azula were siblings. She'd even noticed earlier that they both had striking gold eyes. That was about where the similarities ended. Azula carried herself with pride and dignity, like she was a royal deserving of respect, while Zuko was more nonchalant and humble.

Ty Lee's spin slowly came to a stop, pointing at a shot glass filled with an electric blue drink. She downed the cup quickly, wincing slightly. "Whew! Azula, your turn!"

Katara counted the shots lining the table as the bottle continued spinning. Thirty six, including Ty Lee's drink. With Sokka and Suki gone, there were only nine people left around the table, meaning each person had to drink four shots. Katara thought about how much she'd had to drink earlier – she and Suki had some beer before they came, and then the two had had quite a few shots. Add these four to her number, and, though she was no lightweight herself, Katara knew she'd have a horrible hangover tomorrow.

She spun the bottle anyway. And then she spun again. And again. By now, with alcohol fizzing through her veins, she felt utterly unstoppable. As they rounded the table to her last turn, she noted with growing apprehension that one of the last shots left was straight Everclear. Ty Lee had mentioned this a couple rounds ago, then tried to assure everyone that it was the less potent version, which still wasn't much of a reassurance.

Toph, to her left, drank her last shot of the game and passed the beer bottle to Katara, who spun for her final turn. There were only two shots left – one for her, and one for Zuko. To her dismay, the tip of the bottle stopped just past the shot of Everclear, meaning that… she'd have to drink it up.

The other party members around the circle quieted. Katara looked at the glass with despair, unwilling to back down from a challenge. As she steeled herself for the final drink, a hand snatched the shot and downed it quickly. To her shock, she discovered it was Zuko, grimacing as the alcohol slid down his throat.

She stared at him. He met her gaze, gold clashing with blue, and smirked. "So, according to the rules, if someone drinks your shot for you, you have to kiss them."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Well, how about this?" She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his unblemished cheek, grinning as she pulled away amidst catcalls from their fellow players.

Zuko frowned. "That wasn't quite what I had in mind… So I guess we'll have to make up for it later." He grabbed the final shot on the table and toasted her, drinking it in one gulp. "Game over."

Katara smiled as he took her hand and led her on the dance floor, where they lost themselves in the music and the pounding bass. Over in the corner, she spotted Suki and Sokka making out, which made her both excited for her friend and disgusted by her brother.

Zuko laughed when he noticed what she'd been looking at. "Scarring, isn't it?"

She fake gagged as she looped her arms around his neck, back pressed to his chest as their bodies danced in sync. "Horrifically so."

He leaned down to talk in her ear. "I bet I could take your mind off of it."

Katara turned to face him, and he pressed their bodies together until it seemed like they would become one person. She tilted her head up to maintain his gaze, blinking slowly. "And how might that happen?"

Zuko grinned. "I believe you still owe me a kiss."

Katara wasn't sure whether he bent down or she leaned up, but when their lips met, it was a steamy collision, as if she'd just poured a bucket of water over molten lava. She felt electrified and buzzed, and not just because of the alcohol in her veins. Kissing Zuko felt like she'd found what she was missing in life without ever having realized it was gone.

They were jostled apart when some random student bumped into Katara, knocking her slightly off balance. Zuko's grip on her hips tightened, steadying her as both of them recovered for a few moments. Zuko's gold eyes were dark with desire, and his breathing was ragged, matching Katara's. She grinned, knowing where this was going. "Let's get out of here."

Hours later, Katara and Zuko found themselves in Zuko's bed at his apartment, where they'd ended up after ditching the party. Zuko laughed slightly at something on his phone as he stroked her hair. "Ty Lee just texted. They're starting another round of spin the bottle."

Katara tilted her face up, smiling as she kissed him. "Guess you better let them know we're not playing."


End file.
